Chuck versus The Omega 302,850,000
by louzeyre
Summary: Third Story and Second Season in the Do Over-verse: The Ring has technology from other realities and an Evelyn Shawn from an unknown timeline is working for them. Ellie's gearing up for her wedding and Chuck and Sarah really need their own place.
1. Chuck versus The Old Flame Part I

_AN: This is the third story in what, I suppose, would be considered the "Do Over-verse" following my two previous stories Chuck versus The Do Over and Chuck versus The Fish Out of Temporal Water. It is the equivalent of Chuck's Second Season. _

_If you haven't read the first two or simply want a refresher, I have added a summary to the very end of the chapter (the summary turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated)_

_For those who have been reading along: Once again I'm sorry for the delay, I've been trying to plug along at this story as consistently as I can, but it still seems to be taking longer to get out chapters than I hoped. Thank you, to everyone who had reviewed, alerted or favorite either story. Those comments are the main reason I'm hoping to be able plod along at this story faster if I can. _

_Some other things that might be helpful:_

_During Seduction Impossible it was revealed that Roan Montgomery and General Beckman have been having an on again, off again relationships for decades. And that Beckman used to be a dirty blonde. _

_During Agent X, Beckman refers to Mary by her first name, inferring that she may know her as more than Chuck's mother or an Agent. _

_Mary's file reveals her parent names to be Mary and Jesse Gunter._

_In Suitcase, Ellie is shown paging through a family photo album she had kept which included numerous photographs of her parents. On Chuck makes a comment that he must not have been more than 6 months old in one group shot. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck or _

Chuck versus The Old Flame Part I

**(Classified)**

"This was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission." The blonde agent hissed at her darker haired friend.

"I say an opportunity and I took it." Her friend shot back before delivering a punch to one of the guards blocking their path.

"Why is that your opportunities always end up as messes I have to clean-up." The blonde countered as she kicked another guard.

A dozen punches and kicks later, the two had made their way towards a junction of corridors. Glancing towards one another, they silently agreed on a direction and took off down one of the halls.

"Where is the poor soul they decided to partner you with anyway?" She finally asked, banging one of the unlocked doors open suddenly to knock out a guard as he tried to sneak up on them.

"Probably locked in a closet somewhere with one of the waitresses." Her companion said derisively. The blonde snorted. It seemed like three quarters of the men at the Agency thought they were James Bond, complete with a bedpost every woman wanted to become a notch in.

They were only a few feet from the back exit when another guard stepped seemingly out of nowhere in front of them. He was easily the size of both her and her reckless friend put together them put together and pointing a gun straight at her friend and fellow agent. She willed the gears in her mind to spin in hopes of coming up with some way to get out of this without one of them having a large whole shot threw them. Suddenly a shape fell down from the ceiling. The thump of shoes on the concrete floor caused the guard to instinctively turn his head towards the sound. He was reward with two punches to his face in rapid succession, knocking him unconscious. Once the oversized goon had toppled over, the man who had come to their assistance, she would never say rescue, was visible. He was a lean, brunette that her practiced eye placed at somewhere around six feet four. The glare her darker haired friend was shooting him identified him as the other's partner.

"Ladies." He said, gesturing towards the now empty escape route. Her friend mouth curled into a slightly sour expression before heading towards the exit. The man looked back towards her and gave a exaggerate sigh and a long suffering look. She couldn't help but smile back in amusement. She knew the other woman well enough to commiserate.

It wasn't until they were all in their stolen getaway car safely headed out of enemy territory that Mary seemed to feel the need to offer introductions.

"Diane, this is my new partner, Agent Roan Montgomery." Mary said, gesturing towards the man now seating in the passenger seat. She swept her hand back toward her. "Agent Montgomery this is Lieutenant Diana Beckman, NSA."

**October 5, 2008**

They didn't go Graham's funeral. Then again, they didn't go the first time either. Over the course of his time in this timeline Chuck had found certain events which seemed immutable. He hadn't expected Graham's death to be one of them. He hadn't even realized it could be. The circumstances were completely different. Fulcrum was gone and the Intersect seemingly on everyone's backburner, and yet Graham had still died within twenty-four hours of when he had in the other timeline. It was almost the flip side of Bryce's death. He had either a year and change, or only six weeks depending on whether you counted his first "death" outside the intersect room. But he had still died in a way strikingly similar to how he had originally.

He felt slightly guilty, but Chuck's first thought after hearing about Graham's death, after his concern for Sarah and before he began to worry over the news of who had killed Graham, was for his father. Was his death set in stone in as well? Did he have an invisible timer on him, counting down? And if so, how much time was on it? Had Chuck inadvertently knocked off a few hours, or days or months? Even if he had, he knew he was annoyingly unable to do anything about it. With Shaw dead, the circumstances that might lead to his father's death were completely unknown to him, and even if he knew exactly when and what would happen, he had no way to contact his parents.

"Hey buddy, something wrong?" Morgan asked. Chuck forced himself out of his maudlin thoughts back to the present.

"No, just thinking. " He told his friend, forcing a small smile.

"Well, I know something that is almost guaranteed to be funny." Morgan said, giving him a squeeze on the shoulder. "Lester has called a meeting."

**XXX**

Sarah wasn't entirely sure how she felt about Graham's death. Just a few months ago, when the man who had recruited Chuck had disappeared, she had believed that if something similar happened to Graham, she would be incredibly upset. Graham had, literally, saved her life and put her on the path she was on. The path that had led her to the job and the man she loved. But she had not illusions as to why he had put her on this path, and he had not made it a secret that he was far from proud at the type of Agent she had turned out to be. And the more time she spent around Chuck, the more she realized how glad she was that she hadn't turned into the wildcard enforcer he had tried to form her into.

Her phone rang, disrupting any further contemplation. Beckman wanted a briefing. She made her way down to castle, but when Chuck still hadn't arrived ten minutes later, Sarah decided to take it upon herself to fetch him.

As she walked into the Buymore she found herself swatting her hair out of her face as it was blown around by the fans at the entrance. They were meant to keep bugs out bu tsometimes Sarah wondered if someone deliberately turned the fans up at time. Looking around she found Chuck walking beside Morgan, his head down as they talked. His button down was untucked, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets, his whole posture slightly relaxed. Morgan said something, then gave a Chuck a pat on the shoulder, before pointing towards the door and walking away. Chuck's head shot up and his eyes connected with her. It always amazed her just how much adoration he still had in his eyes when he looked at her, even now that they had been together for months. He gave her small smile which she returned. Her smile turned slightly coy as she reached up and pulled on his tie, brining his mouth down into a chaste kiss.

"So, is there a national emergency or did you just miss me?" He whispered.

"A bit of both. You haven't been answering your phone." Chuck's face cycled through confusion, then realization, embarrassment and finally slight irritation.

"Lester made us turn all our phones off for his meeting." He said, sarcasm filtering through the last word.

"Somehow I doubt the General is going to think Buymore politics are an adequate excuse." She told him, then grabbed his hand, tugging him towards the door as he let up a odd little yell. She kept his hand locked in hers as they threaded through the semi-full parking lot to the yogurt shop, dropping it only once they reached the freezer and she had to enter the password. Casey, apparently, had already seen the General's message and made his way down into Castle.

"Agents Bartowski and Walker. It's nice of you to join us. Finally." Beckman told them from the Castle's main screen. "Let's not waste anymore time. We have reason to believe that the components from Leeryder may be in the possession of the ex KGB operative Sasha Banecheck."

**XXX**

Roan hadn't fallen off the grid in this timeline. Chuck wasn't entirely sure why but he couldn't help but hope it was because of something he had done. Roan had also, it seemed, done something (or someone) that had annoyed the General because instead of flying out in a CIA jet, she had had him fly commercial. Coach. That meant they were also punished, with a drive to LAX. They found him in one of the employee's lounges flirting with two attractive stewardesses. He wasn't as drunk as Chuck had expected. When Roan glanced up towards them, he even seemed to recognize Casey.

"Sorry ladies, it looks like duty calls." He said. He stood up and stumbled slightly towards them causing Chuck revised his assessment. He might not have been as drunk as he had been when they had found him in the original timeline, but he was still a fair bit beyond tipsy.

By the time they had gotten Roan's bags and driven back to the apartment building he had sobered up some and Chuck and Sarah decided to order some food from Bamboo Palace to eat while they went over the mission information.

Just before Chuck has entered in Sarah's order of sizzling shrimp, the doorbell rang. All three of them turn towards the door, looking at it warily but before either he or Sarah could make their way to check it, Casey came pelting down the stairs far faster than even Chuck anticipated. Once the door swung open Chuck realized why. Kathleen is standing, slightly startled, on the door step holding a small mountain of Tupperware and wearing a slightly nervous smile.

"Kath. Is something wrong? Is Alex?" Casey stuttered.

"She's fine. I just." She started hesitantly. "All my recipes' are for two, so I have all these leftover. And since you tend to think hot pockets are their own food group I thought I might bring some over." She glanced, around Casey, taking in the three of them sitting in the living room and gave a hesitant wave to Sarah before looking back towards Casey with a self conscious smile.

"But if you have guests."

"We're leaving." Chuck interrupted quickly. He turned towards Sarah, giving her a knowing look. "I was going to show Roan, here, something for work over at our place." Chuck finished with a nod. Chuck grabbed Roan's arm and pulled him up with a tug, pulling him towards the door quickly, hoping to avoid Roan saying anything. Chuck's fairly certain if Roan had a chance to open his mouth around Casey and Kathleen it will end with a lot of bruises for Roan and paper work for the rest of them. Luckily, for once in his life, Roan seemed to realize this as well.

Roan managed to wait until Chuck had pulled him across the courtyard into the his own apartment before speaking.

"Who, is that?"

"Casey's ex." Sarah replied quickly as Chuck glanced around and let out a sigh of relief that neither Ellie nor Awesome seemed to be home. Roan raised his eyebrow questioningly. Chuck shared looked with Sarah, before giving a slight shrug.

"Its not our story to tell." Sarah said simply. Roan seemed to accept the answer. Chuck decided to go back to ordering their meal. There was some confusion over whether or not he had to re-order the first part of the meal, which is what he blamed for not catching Roan's exploration of their coffee table books until it was too late. He hadn't even realized Ellie had kept the album out. He remembered, vaguely, it had appeared somewhere around the time she had first started writing to their mother, but he had assumed she had put it away again once their parents had once again disappeared. Apparently she had forgotten to. Or hadn't had the heart to.

Chuck tensed, waiting, as Roan flipped through the initial pages and was slightly relieved, and slightly disappointed , when there was no recognition. Then Roan turned over a page and froze, slightly. Chuck leaned over a tiny bit so he could see over the man shoulder. It was a picture of his parents with him and Ellie. He couldn't have been more than a few months old. Roan turned then and looked at him, his eyes narrowed slightly as if he was searching for something.

"You're Mary Gunter's son." Roan stated. The use of his mother's maiden name threw Chuck off for a moment. He never thought of her as Mary Gunter but he supposed it made sense that Roan would. His parents had met through the Agency. That meant that his mom had started her career as Agent Gunter and it would have made sense, professionally, to remain Agent Gunter. Especially since she seemed to want to keep the number of people who knew she was married to a minimum. As he looked back at Roan's questioning gaze Chuck realized then he had paused a bit too long.

"Yes." There was no use denying it. "How did you know her?" Roan gave an almost wistful smile. It wasn't an expression he would have ever associated with him.

"I was her partner, for a little while. Mary tended to go through partners quickly. She was a bit to impulsive and stubborn for a partner, or her own good. " He said, fondly, before apparently realizing how that might sound and quickly adding. "No offense. "

"No," Chuck said slowly, "that sounds about right." Across the living room, Sarah looked over from where she sat silently. Her eye, asked him if he was okay. He gave a slightly nod and she moved into the kitchen to get the dishes and leave them to talk.

"I can tell you one thing." Roan said finally. He tapped on one of the photographs of Chuck's father on the next page. "Your dad must have been one hell of a guy. Mary was the only one of my female partners to resist both my four prong method and the Montgomery."

"Thanks. I guess. Although I wished the compliment hadn't been accompanied by the thought of your trying to seduce my mother." Chuck told him. Roan gave a shrug.

"It could have been, I could have told you," He got out before Chuck quickly interrupted him.

"Please do not finish that sentence. "

**October 6, 2008**

Roan paused a moment in front of the mirror outside the bar giving himself one last once over. His role in tonight's mission might not require his usual level of poise, but it never hurt to look his best. He really was still a handsome devil.

Charles had rejected his plan outright. Apparently he had issues with seduction missions. After Roan had been ushered in Casey guest room his three partners had, he found out, begun using their contact to spread the word the Charles Carmichael was interested in purchasing items that had been stolen from his former competitor, Leeryder Industries. The hope was that Banachek would take the bait and Chuck and Sarah could get the pieces off her, then arrest her. If she didn't, well, that was where he came in, just not the way he would have preferred. Tonight he was tasked with keeping Banachek in the hotel bar while Casey placed bugs around the room. He was also, hopefully, scare her into trying to off load her merchandise sooner rather than later. He probably should have been a bit more insulted that he had been cast as merely the distraction, but he had to admit that Charles plan was good. Meticulous, and well thought out if not as much fun as Roan's own. Charles must have inherited his tactical skill form his father. For as good an Agent as she was, Mary wasn't the best with strategy. Or team work.

As he walked into the room, Roan he smiled, just slightly, as all eyes turned towards him. Moving towards the center couch, he sat down, not waiting for permission. Looking towards him, Sasha gave him a slightly sour smile.

"Hello Roan."

**XXX**

Trust Bartowski to come up with a plan that required him to jump off a balcony. Okay, repel, but the kid did seem to have a fascination with jumping , or falling, of things. As much is might irritate him, however, Casey did understand the necessity in this case. Their plan relied on Banachek not suspecting she was being listened to, and that meant nothing suspicious could happen to the guards. Instead of going in guns, or tranq guns, blazing, they had taken the hotel room right above Banachek. They needed more delicate surveillance than they could get through the floor, through. Specifically video and phone bugs, so Casey had been sent down.

Sarah had offered to act as room service and deliver the guards some drinks with a low dose of tranquilizer, something that would make them drowsy but not actually fall asleep, but Bartowski had pointed out that if they did pose as the buyers once Banachek tried to off load the stolen pieces, they couldn't risk one of the goons recognizing her. Which meant Casey was forced to break in and try to be very quite. It wasn't exactly his preference for an operation, or he forte.

He eased down onto the landing, careful to not allow his booted feet to make too much noise, then used a knife to ease open the glass doors.

"I'm in." He whispered over his com to the duo upstairs before beginning to place the bugs strategically around the room. He had just placed the last of the bugs when Bartowski's voice came over his earpiece.

"You have to get out of their Casey. Now." He said. He sounded more exasperated then nervous.

"Roan messed up?" Casey grunted.

"You could say that."

"Fine, I'm on my way." Casey headed back out to the balcony, and closed the doors again before pulling himself up the short length of rope onto the one above. He really shouldn't have even needed the line, but Batowski had insisted that if he climbed down, he would be making too much noise.

After he had pulled line back onto their floor, he headed into the room to see what had Bartowski so riled up. To his horror he heard giggling. And it was from the bugs. Walking over to the small bank of monitors he saw Bartowski and Walker looking on in horror as Montgomery and Banecheck tumbled into the hotel room below. All three of them grimaced.

"He just couldn't resist, could he." Casey grumbled. As the on the screens two began moving toward he bed Casey moved to turn off the feed.

"Don't." Bartowski said, slapping his hand away, "We'll need to know if he gets into trouble." He said with more than a little disgust.

"I am not watching this." Casey stated bluntly. Chuck glanced around the room, then got up, coming back a moment later with a large towel from the bathroom that he, thankfully, draped over the monitors.

Casey was about to start looking for something to block his ears as well when the now mercifully disembodied voices began to come through the bugs.

"Let me help you." Montgomery said.

"Roan, do you really think I'm so stupid as to believe you'd betray that precious agency of yours." Bancheck replied.

"No. I know exactly how clever you are. I also know you're clever enough to realize that I know enough of your dirty little secrets that if I wanted to, with one phone call I could make sure you ended up someplace a lot worse than an American prison." There was a squeaking sound, like the springs on a bed and Casey tried not to think about what that might mean.

"Is that a threat." Banachek said, breathily.

"No. It's a reassurance. You have a lot of enemies and we both know what most of your buyers would do to you once you give them those pieces. While I might still find you to be a young, beautiful and vibrant woman, you've been in this game for long enough to realize that with every big deal that you make, you've used up just a little bit more of your good luck. Its only a matter of time before its all gone. Let me make sure you end before that happens." There was another series of squeaks and Casey saw both Walker and Bartowski flinch slightly along with me.

"And why should I believe that making a deal with you would be better? I don't think your superiors would look too kindly on someone who killed one of their scientists?" She asked.

"You killed a traitor, with a few bit of information on some of your clients, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to overlook it." Banecek moaned and, despite the information that was streaming in, Casey still contemplated trying to shut off the bugs.

"Unbutton me." Banecheck breathed. There was a slightly pause before Montgomery spoke.

"That's a nice bauble."

"It and its friends are yours," She said breathily before her tone turned sharp. "After you bring me an agreement, in writing, signed by someone I actually trust, Roan."

"You know that's not enough. They'll need some proof of your intentions." Roan told her. There was another pause, then a small clink too soft to be picked up by anything but Roan's ear pieces.

"You'll get the others only after I get the deal." Banachek said. "In writing. Now get out Roan." She spat.

_Summary: During a mission just prior to Chuck versus Agent X, a mysterious young man uses an equally mysterious device to knock Chuck out. He wakes up inside his younger body on the day after his 20__th__ Birthday. _

_Off screen (so to speak) Chuck tries, at first, to get home, and contacts his father for help confiding in him everything that had happened to him. Eventually he realizes he's stuck in this timeline and decides to try to change things for the better. As mourns the loss of his relation with Sarah and the others in his original timeline, he makes sure he is recruited by the CIA, and anonymously lets Casey know about Alex in 2001. Along the way he makes numerous other changes, including becoming temporarily partnered with Sarah. For various reasons, however, their relationship doesn't move beyond friendship before they are reassigned. _

_Eventually he still ends up downloading the intersect, and Bryce dies. _

_Do Over then picks up at the beginning of Season 1. Over the course of the story Chuck and Sarah mourn Bryce and become closer, until they eventually start a relationship while Chuck and Chuck and the Team take down Fulcrum. _

_At the end of the story Mary and Stephen meet Chuck at his childhood home, letting him know that they have been tracing intrusions into this timeline from others. As well as warning him that Leeryder Industries, a company that Chuck had been investigating on his own, may have some way of tapping into these intrusions. Chuck also is confronted by Sarah and tells her what has happened to him. _

_During Temporal Waters, Chuck and the Team run up against an increasing number of weapons and technology that appears to have been brought over from other dimensions or timelines including a device that can make an individual look like another individuals. While the Ring was not able to gain that particular technology, two of its Agents, it appears, have used the device. The Team also finds themselves continually facing off against a former Volkoff employee, Laura Cleary, that appears to have been in a relationship with Daniel Shaw before killing him and now appears to be working for the Ring. _

_During the final chapters of the story Chuck learns that Leeryder had created a device that appears to be the ancestor to the one that sent him back in time and was using it to tap into other timeline and download the information both onto their servers and into people. The Ring uses a virus to steal all of the weapons and technology Leeryder has accrued from other dimensions and possibly the technology to access these other timelines itself before turning one of Leeyrder's own weapons against them and killing everyone in their main headquarters, including their founders. _

_Finally, in the last chapter Graham is assassinated by the woman the team previous thought was Laura Cleary. The team learn that she is one of the people who used the cloning device and that she now appears to be Evelyn Shaw. We learn that she is, in fact, a version of Evelyn Shaw from an unknown timeline who was downloaded into Cleary's body. _


	2. Chuck versus The Old Flame Part II

_AN: Thank you to everyone who had reviewed (or alerted or favorite) this story so far, or the two previous ones in this verse. This chapter wasn't done as quickly as I hoped and it isn't as long as I would have wished but hopefully it's not too much of a disappointment. _

_Some things to know: _

_Ellie states in Seduction that her favorite dessert is pecan pie._

_Devon's tendency to include absurd animals in his lies to Ellie first appeared on the show during Operation Awesome._

_Break-up starts the same night as Seduction ended however, despite having arranged for Devon and Ellie to share a romantic dinner together when Chuck comes back from his non-date with Sarah, Ellie and Devon are on the couch watching a cooking show and still wearing their scrubs._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck._

Chuck versus The Old Flame Part II

**October 6, 2008**

"Please tell me this is a joke." Beckman told them. Chuck wasn't sure whether she was more angry or exasperated with Roan's antics but the glare she was shooting all of them made it clear she wasn't pleased with the deviation from the plan.

"We've made deals like this before." Sarah decided to venture. Beckman turned her head slightly so she could more effectively glare at her from the screen.

"We need those parts General." Chuck decided to intercede. "Our bugs and contacts have turned up nothing. You said yourself how bad it could be if the pieces fell into the wrong hands. Even with one piece missing, we can't risk someone like the Ring or Volkoff being able to reverse engineer anything similar to Leeryder's machines from the parts that are left." Beckman's face twisted slightly in sour annoyance, before Chuck noticed her shoulders drop, just a fraction, in resignation.

"I'll see what I can work out." She relented, before quickly cutting the connection.

**XXX**

Morgan had passed on that Devon and Ellie had plans for the night, so Chuck and Sarah had decided to simply grab the overnight bags they kept packed for last minute missions and head over to his parents' old house to sleep for the night. It was becoming increasingly apparent that having two couples living in their small apartment was a problem, but between missions and cover work they had yet to be able to even begin searching for a new place. Chuck also was willing to admit a part of him was hoping someplace would open up nearby. He liked living near Ellie and Devon, he always had, and his need to be near his family and friend had, if anything, become stronger since he had spent so long away. Moving across town might not be anything like spending five years traveling the globe, but he couldn't help but wish they could stay within walking distance. Or, preferably, screaming distance, in case someone were to come after Ellie.

Both he and Sarah agreed that moving to the house full time was not an option. Not when there was a chance that someone might put two and two together and realize that his father had never sold the house, and therefore might be keeping something there. He also wasn't going to risk their home being destroyed by someone going after his father's work, or his father's work being destroyed by someone coming after them. Keeping the two as separate as possible was the best option.

When he and Sarah approached the apartment they were surprised to find it completely dark, even Ellie and Devon's room. Cautiously Chuck had opened the front door, wary of what he might find on the other side. Walking in he frowned as he noticed Devon sleeping on the. Closing the door carefully they had only made it a few feet into the living room before the restless man on the couch attempted to turn over and work himself up.

Devon blinked awake at them, and pushed himself into a sitting position.

"What happened to the night of romance?" Chuck asked, just above a stage whisper. Devon cringed.

"I went to Morgan for advice."

"You decided to get romance tips from the man Ellie has been continually trying to chase off for the last 19 years. Sometimes with weapons." Sarah said, more than slightly bewildered.

"It was a nerf gun." Chuck felt the need to correct.

"Not the point honey."

"Yeah, I screwed up." Devon conceded.

"What are you going to do?" Chuck asked, sitting down on the chair beside him. Sarah perched herself next to him on the armrest. Awesome gave a weak shrug.

"What I should've done last night. Cover this place in rose petals, a roaring fire, simple candlelit dinner, pecan pie." Devon said thoughtfully. "Maybe give her a foot massage in the tub."

"That's a natural place, I think, to stop giving me details." Chuck quickly interrupted. He'd had more than enough scarring images of the woman in his family over the last few days.

"That sounds perfect." Sarah added, rolling her eyes slightly at Chuck.

"Yeah, the problem is when, you know? I've gotta be at work in, like, 20 minutes. Got a 5 a.m. call tomorrow. I'll do it. I just hope it's not too late." Sarah reached out and patted Devon's knee.

"Trust me Devon. It won't be." She told him.

**October 7, 2008**

Sarah watched as Chuck glanced nervously at his watch. Banachek was late. Despite her initial hesitation General Beckman had been able to offer up a deal that Banachek had, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to. It had actually taken longer to agree to a meeting location as both Roan and Banachek seemed averse to meet at any spot the other had picked. Eventually, Chuck had stepped in and convinced both of them to meet at a parking lot neither one had ever been to before. Then, not long after they had arranged the meeting, the Black Widow had asked to be moved to another room in the hotel as she had found "bugs" in hers. Since then they hadn't been able to monitor her calls, and as nothing had come in from their sources indicating that she was trying to make a deal with Carmichael or anyone else, this meeting would most likely be their only chance to get the stolen components.

Roan didn't look particularly worried. She would think that was a good sign, however, she wasn't entirely sure Roan had a "worried" look. He seemed to take everything in stride, and with a lot of gin.

Ten minutes after the appointed time, a black stretch limo pulled up beside them and Banachek exited with three bodyguards. Sarah saw Chuck tense slightly. Banachek had attempted to double cross him in the other timeline, she knew, but Sarah didn't think that was particularly likely in this one. There were no hostages involved, and Banachek had already agreed to what Sarah thought was a fairly good deal considering her record. She still reached out her senses, and kept her eyes closely on the four criminals.

Despite her increased vigilance, Chuck was still the one that saw the laser sight appear on Banachek's chest. Sarah's heart sped up slightly as he dove forward, pulling Banachek down just before the shot flew over their heads - and right into the goon behind Banachek. On seeing their comrade collapse onto the pavement, Banachek's other two henchmen bolted in opposite directions. Sarah turned slightly, shooting several times in the direction the shot came from. Still holding onto Banachek, Chuck dragged the woman into an alley way and out of the line of fire with Roan following as she and Casey provided cover. When no more shots were returned, she ran after them.

"What was that?" Casey hissed towards Banachek.

"Casey, if they were with her, they wouldn't have tried to shoot her in the chest." Chuck pointed out heatedly. Casey grumbled.

"Your one to talk about double-crosses. You are the ones that placed listening devices everywhere. I wish I was surprised. I thought even you, Roan, were enough of a gentleman to leave me in privacy in my bathroom." Banachek spat. Sarah glanced at Casey whose brow was furrowed in confusion.

"I didn't place anything in your bathroom lady. Believe me." He retorted.

"You didn't check to make sure no one else had planted bugs." Roan chided.

"You didn't exactly give me much of a chance Romeo." Casey said sarcastically.

"Can we maybe wait to have this conversation until we aren't crouching behind a dumpster?"Sarah cut in and suggested.

"The shooter was probably after the device components. I trust you'd have no objection to us getting them first?" Chuck said, turning towards Banachek. She raised her eyes sarcastically, as if to say "what do you think?"

"Wonderful. Where are they?" Chuck asked.

"I gave them to my men."

"The dead one, or the ones that ran like scared chickens the moment there was gun fire." Chuck asked. Sarah fought rolling her eyes.

"The chickens." Banachek ground out. Casey grunted.

"Of course." Chuck sighed. "Roan, can you escort Ms Banachek to the van while we go after the pieces."

"I am a trained agent." The older agent said, gracefully.

"I'll take the sniper." Casey stated. "You two can go after Twiddle-flee and Twiddle-run."

Sarah edged towards the mouth of the alley along with Chuck and Casey began his ascent towards the snipers approximate location. They waited until Roan and Banachek had made it a few feet without any sign of another ambush before splitting up and heading towards their respective bad guys.

**XXX**

Once Roan and Sasha had finally stopped bickering and chosen a meeting location, Chuck had taken time to do a bit a research and pull up maps and satellite photos of the area. Unfortunately he hadn't thought to map out the most likely route a terrified henchman would use to flee. Chuck had landed in two different, slightly smelly, dead ends before arriving at the alleyway where the former body guard lay.

Crouching down, Chuck saw he wouldn't need to feel for a pulse. The man was obviously dead. He grimaced slightly as he began patting him down. He never got used to touching dead bodies. When he didn't find anything, Chuck reluctantly turned the man over and began searching more thoroughly. After he had searched as much of the man as he would be willing to, even if the goon had been alive, but found nothing, he decided to contact the others.

"Banachek's guard was already dead. I didn't find anything on him." Chuck told them through his com.

"Same with me." Sarah said.

"Guess that I'm the winner then." Casey said. "I grabbed the sniper."

"I'll call a clean-up crew for the bodies. We should take Banachek in." Sarah suggested.

Chuck met Sarah and Casey just outside the alleyway they had started from. He was surprised to find he recognized the man that was handcuffed and held by Casey.

"Javier Cruz." Chuck announced. "He's an assassin for the Ring."

"Goody." Casey smirked before tossing something towards Chuck. A flash hit him before Chuck had consciously registered what he had caught. The item Casey had picked off of Cruz was a Ring phone, but even a casual inspection demonstrated it was unlike any Ring phone, or phone for that matter, that Chuck had seen before.

Up until this point they hadn't found any of the phones on the Ring agents that they brought in. Chuck had begun to assume that the network hadn't been established yet. Now he realized the Ring must simply have been waiting to give it an upgrade, and he had a sinking feeling he knew exactly where that new tech had come from.

"It's not part of the device. It connects to the Ring's private network." Chuck said. Sarah smiled slightly. While the fact that the Ring was so casually using the technology they had stolen from Leeryder was troubling, the discovery was still a positive. Now they once again had an advantage in finding and tracking the Ring and its operatives.

Casey grabbed Cruz and the three of them began walking back towards where they had parked. As soon as the van came into view, however, Chuck paused. He tilted his head slightly, trying to determine whether he was imagining things.

"Is the van rocking?" He asked aloud. Before Chuck's brain had really processed what that might mean, Casey's angry center seemed to explode into a anger supernova and Chuck found Cruz being thrust into his arm as Casey marched over toward the surveillance vehicle and began pounding on the side.

"Get your clothes on. That's government property."

**October 8, 2008**

"It was a pleasure to work with you Agent Bartowski. And not just because you're Mary's son." Roan said holding out his hand to Chuck. Chuck smiled as he gave the older agent's hand a firm shake.

"Thank you for that Agent Montgomery. I hope you aren't in too much trouble with The General after that briefing." Chuck told Roan as they prepared to say goodbye. Beckman hadn't been thrilled that they had failed to recover the stolen pieces. However, the recovery of the phone from Cruz, as well as Cruz's capture itself had seemed to redeem the mission somewhat in her eyes. She had even agreed to honor Sasha Banachek's agreement, despite the loss of the pieces. It was Casey's inclusion of what activities Sasha and Roan had been up to when they found them, that Chuck suspected would place Roan in hot water or possibly polyester, but Roan simply chuckled.

"I think you've, misinterpreted my relationship with Diane Charles. Trust me, she may get jealous of my escapes, but it's not the kind of jealous that means I'll be sleeping in the dog house tonight." He said with grin.

"That was an over share Roan." Chuck said with a bit of horror. "Very much an over share." Chuck was saved from a response by Roan's phone ringing.

"Oh, hello Diana." The older Agent said, before giving them a parting wave. Chuck threaded his arms through Sarah's and the two watched from the courtyard as Roan headed out towards his Taxi. After he was out of sight, Chuck chanced a glance through the window to where Ellie and Awesome were, hopefully, enjoying the dinner he and Sarah had set out for them.

"Are you sure about the roses?" Chuck asked Sarah anxiously. In the original timeline he had guilted Beckman into providing a romantic dinner for Devon and Ellie. Since he was now a paid Agent, he and Sarah had been left to their own devices. That meant getting take-out from Ellie's favorite restaurant, as neither of them could cook, and store bought pie. It had also meant Sarah had a bit more influence as to the decorations.

"As much as I agree that Devon's idea was romantic, Ellie is a bit of a neat freak. Trust me, she would not appreciate having to clean up an entire room covered in rose petals." She reassured him. Chuck suspected that Sarah hadn't particularly looked forward to finding petals everywhere for the next month either, or to the bill from the florist for the order Chuck had originally intended.

"So, it looks like we have a few hours to kill, what do you want to do?" Chuck asked. Sarah gave him a mischievous smile.

"I have it on good authority that there are some very nice closets underneath the Orange Orange." She said. Before he could respond, she grabbed his hand, and yanked him towards the car.

**XXX**

Devon put the last of the dishes away and headed over to the table to pour another glass of wine to drink while he and Ellie snuggled on the couch. He really appreciated Chuck's attempt to give him and Ellie a romantic night. Of course, after Ellie's initial flush from being treated to a bit of wining and dining had faded, she had realized that since Devon had had the same shift at the hospital as she had, he had had to have help putting everything together. The fact that he had fumbled when she asked where he had bought the pie and sputtered something about rabid squirrels eating all the canned pecans at the store probably hadn't helped. He never was any good at lying, especially to Ellie. Fortunately, she hadn't picked up on just how surprised he had been when they walked in, and had still credited him with at least planning the evening, although she had joked that it only counted as one third of a date, though.

As he picked up the glasses, and headed back towards where Ellie had tuned into some cooking show he glanced through the window and was to surprised to see their neighbor, John, dressed up in what looked like a white dinner jacket. Curious, Devon moved closer to the window to get a better look. John looked like he caring a bottle of red wine in one hand and a single red rose in the other. Even more surprisingly, he was actually smiling. Looked like John had planned a romantic evening tonight as well. Good for him.


	3. Sarah versus The Dresses

_AN: There's really nothing else I can say, but that I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get you this chapter. Thank you to everyone who had reviewed, favorited or alerted this story, or, really to anyone who is still reading. I hope it's not too disappointing. _

_Some things to remember: A white dinner jacket, bottle of wine and single red rose is called the Montgomery in some places (at least according to Roan)_

_In Cat Squad Zondra mentioned that she had been a bridesmaid for a mission once and carried a machine gun under her pink taffeta dress. _

_In Sensei and Rings, Ellie is subjected to the wedding planning of Devon's mother, Honey Woodcomb. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck. _

**Sarah versus The Dresses**

**October 9, 2008**

As she picked up her keys to head out, Kathleen found her eyes drifting back towards the vase sitting on her coffee table, containing one singular red rose.

She had told herself that she would never be able to trust Alex again. That the man she had loved hadn't really existed in the first place. Not if he would abandon her only months after promising to love her forever as her husband. But two decades as a soldier and spy and almost one as a father had changed him. She had seen that Seeing John standing there, looking slightly uncomfortable in his white jacket, willing to put aside his pride, and, she suspect, take someone else's advice to make her feel special, she had realized how far he had come from the boy she had known.

That boy had always felt like he had something to prove, both as a Marine and as a man. He had thought his life back at home and their lives together were worth trading in for a chance to become more than just the average soldier. She still didn't think she could ever open her heart again to Alex. But that was no longer relevant. Alex was gone. Now she had to wonder whether she could fall in love with John Casey.

She had been surprised when John had shown up last night, although, retrospectively, she probably shouldn't have been. She and John had known that they had become closer the last few months. She had, perhaps too easily, fallen in step with him again and they had become friends relatively quickly after he had moved to L.A.. Somewhere along the line, she had found herself forgiving him without really realizing it. And, yes, she had felt a bit of their old spark there as well, coupled with a new warmth and pride at the man and father he had become. They even began to flirt at flirting a bit. If she was completely honest, they had probably been working towards something for months but she still hadn't expected him to actually make any kind of romantic overture. Once she had gotten over the shock, she had taken pity on him and told him to come in and take off his jacket. They had shared his ritzy wine and her plain old leftovers and talked for hours. Mostly she had talked and he listened, but he had talked some too, which was different and welcome. He hadn't stayed the night. She and Alex may have once been engaged, but this was, after all, her and John's first official date.

**October 11, 2008**

Sarah took a breath, steeling herself before she turned her key in the lock and opened the door.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's our favorite bridesmaid." Devon proclaimed as she walked in. Sarah had been humbled, warmed and shocked when Ellie had come into the Orange Orange two days ago and asked her to be one of her bridesmaids. While Chuck had mentioned that the other Sarah had been one of Ellie's bridesmaids in that timeline, she hadn't wanted to get her own hopes up. She had never considered she would be the bridesmaid for anyone outside of a mission. Carina and Zondra weren't exactly the marrying type and she wasn't exactly the girly type herself.

"I'm so excited! Wait till you see the dresses I picked out." Ellie said, drawing her towards the table. As Ellie pulled out several different catalogues, Sarah began to feel the happiness of being thought of by Ellie as a close friend, quickly being overshadowed by the fear of facing an increasingly excited Ellie without her Chuck shaped buffer.

"Hey, where's Chuck?" Devon asked as if on cue. Sarah gave him a slightly forced smile. Beckman had told the team this morning that Chuck was being sent an Intersect Refresh.

The Intersect had taken more of a backseat in this timeline from what Chuck had told her. Chuck's success in the field had demonstrated the inadequacies of a completely computer based Intersect and promptly led to a halt in the construction of a new mechanical Intersect for the time being. However, Chuck success had also demonstrated the potential of a human Intersect as well as the need to keep such a resource up to date, and the General had ordered a refresh to be made to update the database Chuck had downloaded a year ago.

"One of the deliveries at the Buymore was coming in late. Chuck got tapped to sign for it. He should be here any minute." She told him. Devon nodded and grabbed a bowl of the snack Ellie had placed out.

"Bummer that he had to work late. I guess I'll go over here and let you girls talk in peace for a while then." He said, heading over to sit down in the living room as Sarah found herself pulled back towards Ellie and her dress choices.

**XXX**

Chuck gave one last flourish with the pen before handing the paper back to the government courier.

"Here you go sir." The man said, handing a small package to Chuck. Chuck watched along with Casey as the man headed out of the now empty store, waiting until he had gotten in his car and headed out of the parking lot before moving to finish locking up the Buymore then head toward the employee lounge.

Chuck placed his hand on the finger print reader hidden on one of the lockers, and waited a moment until the scan had confirmed his identity and he heard the click letting him know the latch on the hidden door had been released. Without the latch the bank of lockers swung easily outward at Chuck's light tug, and he immediately walked through with Casey behind him.

Chuck felt just a tad disappointed. While Chuck would never want something as dangerous as the Intersect refresh to be stolen, a part of him had been looking forward to reliving the Von Hayes mission. Particularly the PDA. And the dancing. And the dress. Sarah had looked so great in that dress.

Chuck walked down through the labyrinth of tunnels underneath the strip mall parking lot towards the one room that, after careful consideration, Chuck had decided would be the best location for the download.

"The dojo Bartowski? Are you planning on fighting me with trivia after the update?" Casey joked.

"The dojo has padded floors. The last time I downloaded the Intersect, it caused me to blackout. I'm not going to chance having a sore back for days again." At least not in this timeline. It may have taken him a bit longer than he was letting on, but he had finally learned his lesson, thank you very much. Casey gave a grunt that Chuck interpreted, roughly, as meaning "whimp."

"If that's the case, shouldn't Walker be hovering around, ready to spoon you soup and fuss over you instead of me?"

"Sarah's covering for me with Ellie." Chuck told him. Casey had been a bit prickly even for him over the last few days. If he still was in a few days, Chuck would most likely feel compelled to talk to his gruff partner, but at the moment Chuck valued his internal organs enough that he decided to ignore it. Instead, he maneuvered himself onto a spot on the floor where he wouldn't fall into any of the walls or equipment if he collapsed. Opening up the small package, he pulled out the already loaded and ready refresh.

"That looks like a pair of cheap sunglasses." Casey said in disbelief.

"I'm pretty sure that's the point. For some reason someone must have thought having a blazing sticker stating "Warning! Experimental and valuable government equipment containing highly classified information" plastered on it might be a bit conspicuous."

"Leave the quips for me Bartowski." Chuck ignored him and put on the glasses. Nothing happened. Chuck maneuvered the glasses around a bit again, then pulled his hand back waiting. Nothing happened.

"Shouldn't you be twitching by now?" Casey asked, trying slightly unsuccessfully to sound grumbling rather than worried. Chuck frowned

"It's supposed to be activated by a retinal scan." He said absently as he began thinking back to the first time he had received the Intersect refresh.

"Maybe I need to be looking into a mirror?" Chuck thought aloud. Casey gave a grunt indicating he had no idea. Chuck headed out the door of the dojo, walking out towards Castle's bathrooms to see whether that might make a difference. Halfway down the corridor, however, the glasses apparently found their sweet spot. Chuck froze as he heard the familiar beep of the retinal scan confirming his identity and immediately began being inundated with images. He wasn't sure how long the onslaught lasted, but by the end his head felt so overfull and numb that he didn't even realize that he was falling until he felt the hard, metal of Castle's corridor floor hit his back.

"Ow."

**XXX**

"So, what you think?" Ellie asked apprehensively. Sarah bit her lip, trying to find the most diplomatic way to communicate her feelings about Ellie's choice in bridesmaid dresses.

"I, kind of liked the purple." She finally said hesitantly, bracing herself for Ellie's reaction. Instead of the anger or disappointment Sarah had anticipated, Ellie gave a small sigh that sounded, almost, relieved?

"I do too." Elllie said softly.

"Then why did you choose the pink?" Sarah was slightly proud of herself for not tagging on "taffeta monstrosity" on the end of the question. The leg-restricting layers of pink were about only a couple steps above the thing Zondra had been forced to wear during the mission they had jokingly dubbed "Operation Bridezilla." Ellie gave an apprehensive glance towards where Devon was still munching away on the opposite end of the room, then lowered her voice.

"Honey liked the pink." Sarah frowned.

"Honey?" She asked, following Ellie's lead and keeping her voice just above a whisper.

"Devon's mother." Ellie said flatly. Sarah's frown deepened.

"I'm not exactly the expert on this kind of thing, Ellie, but it is your wedding. Shouldn't it be your decision?" Ellie grimaced slightly.

"Maybe. But." Ellie let out another sigh. "Devon and I don't exactly have a lot of money saved up. And since my parents aren't around, Honey and Woody said they'd help us pay for the wedding."

"So you feel obligated." Sarah surmised. Ellie shrugged.

"To tell you the truth, I've never exactly been the kind of girl that fantasized about her wedding either. I might not agree with some of Honey's idea but, it's not like I want what I want enough that its worth arguing about. " Sarah gave a slight nod. "And this means a lot to her. Honey had three boys and Devon is the first to get married. The pink's not that bad, right?" Sarah stretched her mouth out into what she hoped was more a smile than a grimace.

"No. It's fine." She managed to get out. Ellie looked like she'd either taken a giant bite of something really sour and far too sweet at the same time, or like she was about to start banging her head against the table, before shaking her head slightly and letting out a slightly strained chuckle.

"I guess that's one advantage you have in dating my brother." She said with a watery smile. "If you ever decide to get married you won't have to deal with a mother in law." Sarah plastered another slightly strained smile on her face. Her mind drifted back to the one time she had actually met Mary, and to Mary's various mission reports she tended to read whenever she was at the Encino house and her brain couldn't take talking about alternate timelines and paradoxes anymore.

"Right. Lucky me."


	4. Sarah versus The Alma Mater Part I

_Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck. _

Sarah versus The Alma Mater Part I

**1998**

She carefully moved her piece into position then leaned back slightly, anxiously trying to read her opponents.

"Check-mate." She announced, slightly hesitantly. Mark glanced over the board and gave a small nod.

"Good game Jenny. " She felt her face flush slightly with the compliment. Not because Mark was a boy or because he was sort of cute. Mark was smart. Not just good grades smart like she was but going to be someone someday smart. She was never going to be someone. She wasn't technically someone now. Jennifer Burton didn't exist. The aliases her Dad mocked up for them might be good enough for a high school administrator, but college would be a different matter. Not to mention they'd probably want to see her grades for all four years of high school.

Plus, even if she could find a way around her lack of social security number or birth certificate, she still would never be able to pay for college. Despite her father's claimed proficiency at his chosen profession, they never seemed to have enough money. Her father always found a way to get food on the table, clean clothes on her back and a roof over their heads, but most of those clothes were second hand and that roof usually didn't have much under it but their heads. That was one reason she liked chess. You might have to replace some of the pieces with coins or paperclips, but you could always find a beat up board to steal or buy cheap.

"I'm good at board games." She said, realizing that she had probably been silent too long. "Not that Chess is a board game, not like monopoly or anything. But it's a game on a board, so." She decided to stop while she was ahead. She was good at interacting with people as part of a con. She had the script down pat. She knew everything she was supposed to say. She knew when to massage a mark's ego, when to push, when to step back. But when that script was taken away and she was forced to have real, actual interaction with a human being she felt like bambi, on ice. Gangly, and constantly slipping and sliding without being able to find her feet.

Mark smiled a bit as they began quietly cleaning up the game and she decided to take that as a victory. After Mark had slipped the top back on and stood up to put it away, he paused and turned back to look at her.

"What are you doing tomorrow after school?" He asked.

"Nothing. Wh?." Jenny told him, cautious not to sound too excited. Trying not to let on that the invitation was the closest to a friendship she'd had in a very long time. Mark pinked a bit, slightly embarrassed.

"Mathletes needs another member. It's a lot of the same people as Chess Club. I was wondering if you might want to join. We could really use you." Jenny was smart, but she was smart with words. She was good at languages, and literature not numbers. But she wasn't not good at math either. She gave a shrug.

"I can't make any promises about my ability to actually do math." She said cautiously.

"Not a problem. Neither can we." He said, shaking his head. "Thanks. We could really use a girl on the team." Jenny wondered how phony her smile looked as he headed out the door.

**October 17, 2008**

"You know, if you needed iPod speakers you could have just told me. I could have used my employee discount." Chuck pointed out as he leaned closer to her.

"But then I wouldn't have had an excuse to come over here and see you." She said, looking back at him with a teasing smile.

"You could have come over just to see me. Maybe discuss dinner plans." He answered back.

"Okay, honey, what would you prefer Chinese or Thai?" She said, calling his bluff. Chuck wasn't a fan of discussing dinner plans before noon unless it would impact his lunch. Chuck didn't answer. Instead he moved a bit closer to her and tugged slightly on the crook of her elbow. Grabbing the bag containing her freshly purchased speakers she turned threading her free arm through his and looked to him for an explanation. Chuck nodded slightly in the direction of a dark haired man perusing one of the video aisles, who was looking not to subtly towards them. Chuck leaned close as he pulling her gently by her elbow towards the door, and whispered in her ear.

"Mark Ratner." She stiffened, her instinct to protect her cover momentarily freezing her for a moment until Chuck's subtle tugs pulled her toward her ex-classmate. She quickly reviewed what Chuck had remembered about his encounters with Mark and Heather in the other timeline as they made their way down the aisle where Mark was now standing. She didn't want to revisit her past, but given what might be at stake, she didn't think she would have a choice. When they reached him, Mark looked at them nervously and Chuck gave her a slight nudge, urging her to speak.

"I'm sorry, but you look really familiar." She told Mark. "You didn't go to James Buchannon High in San Diego by any chance did you?"

"Uh, yes." Mark said, his eyes were wide, but they also showed a slight bit of relief.

"You probably wouldn't remember me. I was more the chess club and student orchestra crowd then." She hoped Mark didn't see as she glanced around, making sure no one that knew Chuck might hear before lowering her voice as far as she thought she could without it seeming odd to Mark and feigning a questioning tone. "Jenny Burton?" Mark's eyes clouded for a moment before he appeared to be hit by the realization of who she must me.

"Oh. Jenny." He said giving her a genuine smile. "You look good."

"And I'm Jenny's boyfriend. Chuck." Chuck said quickly offering Mark his hand.

"Mark Ratner." Mark told Chuck as he took his hand. Sarah saw the flicker of Chuck's eyes which she had learned signalled he was trying to hide a flash.

"Who's this Honeybear?" A voice called from behind Mark. The engineer stepped aside to reveal a blonde woman Sarah knew for certain she had never seen before.

"Oh, uh, this is Jenny and her boyfriend Chuck." Mark gestured towards them. "Jenny and I went to High School together."

"What a small world!" The blonde said with more enthusiasm than Sarah thought should be genuine. "I'm Mark's wife, Isobel." She said, offering Sarah her hand. "But all my friends call me Libby." Of course they did.

"You know, we should get together sometime, trade stories." Chuck suggested. The woman actually seemed to beam.

"That would be great. I can't wait to hear all about what my Pookie was like when he was younger." Mark looked just as uncomfortable as her as their significant others began to plot together.

**XXX**

Chuck was sure that the dinner in the other timeline had been even more awkward then this one, he had just been too distracted by the prospect of finding out more information on Sarah to notice. As it was, Mark looked anxious, Libby looked far too excited to be there than any normal human should have and, despite the absence of Heather, Sarah still looked like she wanted to rabbit. Or hit something. He wasn't surprised. Sarah had been hardwired from an early age to keep different aspects of her life separate from each other and while Jenny Burton might not have been her "real name" it had been her identity during a part of her life she had tried to forget. Even Casey had seemed to realize this was not the time for sarcasm and remained uncharacteristically on topic when he introduced himself as their waiter.

Chuck had spent a chunk of the afternoon trying to understand what had happened that could have caused the change in Mark's life. He hadn't done anything to affect Mark directly, but He had told his father about Heather. He had told his father everything, or at least summarized everything, and anything to do with Volkoff had gotten special, more detailed attention. It was possible the elder Bartowski had done something.

He had also investigated Heather toward the end of his time at the farm, when his supervisors had assigned him analysis work to keep him occupied while he finished up his last few classes, but he hadn't found anything suspicious. Since he didn't think he could have Heather arrested for traitorous goldigger in another timeline, he decided to wait and check again later. Then Volkoff had disappeared and Chuck had somewhat idiotically pushed everything to do with him to the backburner, becoming distracted by the day to day problems of protecting the country and saving the world.

With Sarah still sitting uncomfortably silent next to him, Chuck decided to take the first steps towards actually completing their current mission.

"So Mark, what line of work are you in?" He asked, casually.

"Engineering. What I'm working on is technically top secret. So I can't really talk about it."

"Isn't that so exciting." Libby gushed. Chuck tried to keep himself from looking at her with too much disbelief. Sarah loved him and even she wasn't that excited about the geekier side of his former cover jobs.

Sarah then stepped in to engage the couple in conversation, and Chuck studied Mark. He was acting increasingly nervous. After a moment the newish Mrs. Ratner noticed as well.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." Mark said, slightly distractedly.

"You're all flushed and sweaty. Did you accidently have shellfish again?" she asked before yelling towards Casey. "Garcon, is there's shellfish in this soup."

"I didn't have shellfish, Libby." Mark interjected, calming her. "I'm fine. I'm just going to go wash-up." Mark assured her, before leaving the table abruptly. As Sarah began to speak with Libby again, Chuck tried to calculate how long he should wait before following Mark. Given all the changes in the timeline he really had no idea whether Mark would be confronted in the restroom, but if he was Chuck couldn't leave him to find for himself. After what he deemed a long enough time, he excused himself to the little boy's room and headed after Mark.

As he approached the bathroom Chuck's heart sank slightly when he heard Russian accented voices through the door. It seemed liked Mark may have a different wife in this timeline, but the same luck. He opened the door to find, unsurprisingly, two thugs harassing Mark and immediately flashed on one. General Beckman's still unnamed new contact must have contributed to the Intersect refresh this time because instead of receiving information which tied the man generally to the Russian mob, the Intersect immediately identified him as working for Kaminsky. After he came out of the flash, Chuck could hear Mark trying weakly to convince the goons that Chuck was nobody.

"What do you know?" The man closest to Chuck asked. Chuck simply gave the man a befuddled look as an answer. It wasn't the same man in front of him as during the last confrontation, but it was fairly clear that, no matter what he claimed to know, it was going to end the same way.

"Turn on the hand dryer, so no one can hear him scream." The apparent leader told the other man, as the two stuffed Mark into one of the stalls. The two men turned towards him then, drawing their weapons. Having two goons pointing guns at him at more or less point blank range wasn't something he was entirely comfortable with normally, even as the Intersect. But the bathroom was cramped, and in this case he hoped that the men would be hesitant to actually fire, if only out of fear of hitting each other. Then again, knowing his luck, that might be giving them too much credit.

Taking a breath he forced a flash, then studied the men in front of him for a short moment. In one swift movement he reached over and twisted the gun out of one man's hand, while at the same time delivering a kick to the other man, sending him tumbling backwards towards the sinks. He elbowed the now gunless goon in the face, then delivered a last punch to the head knocking him unconscious. By then the second goon was up again, and Chuck grabbed the hand holding his gun and pulled it to the side before sending another kick to his gut, then grabbed his head as he slumped over and crashed it against the hand dryer that had turned on earlier. The man slumped over and fell, just like his boss, and Chuck reached over and took his weapons from his now limp hand.

There was a slight creak over the sound of the still blaring dryer and Chuck turned towards the sound, automatically holding the pilfered gun at the ready, only to find Casey at the door. Chuck stuffed the gun into the back of his pants, slightly embarrassed. His partner didn't seem to notice. He glanced down at the unconscious goons in annoyance.

"You couldn't have left one for me?" He asked.

"Sorry. I'll try to be more considerate next time." Chuck told him. Casey grunted that he better.

"All right, I'm going to pull the van around so we can stow these guys, be right back." Casey said, allowing the door to close after him. At that moment the dryer finally cut off and Mark stumbled out from his stall. His eyes grew wide as he took in the scene in front of him.

"How? How did you do that?" Mark asked, staring up at him.

"I got into self-defense a bit a few years ago." Chuck said casually.

"Are you nuts, these guys are killers!" Mark said in disbelief. Chuck doesn't really remember what he said last time, but he supposed that it didn't really matter, he was going to have to break his cover when they brought Mark in anyway. He decided to go with being frank. Mark was a smart guy, choice in wives nothwithstanding.

"Mr. Ratner, we know that you're planning on leaking the bomber plans to Kaminsky." Mark's eyes narrowed slightly in this and looked slightly confused.

"Kaminsky? "

"Russian arms dealer?" Chuck said helpfully.

"Oh. But how did you know that? Who's we?" He said, sounding confused. "Wait a minute … I know exactly who you are. Dude, you're The Man!" Mark said excitedly.

"I wouldn't say The Man exactly." Chuck demurred.

"So who do you work for? Is it the FBI? CIA? NSA?" He asked, moving closer.

"I'm sorry Mr. Ratner, I can't really say." Chuck told him, before adding, "Not the FBI." Casey would never let him live it down if Mark thought that.

"Okay. I get it. I get it. But just tell me, does Jenny know who you really are?"

"Jenny knows nothing." Chuck said quickly. There was no sense in compromising Sarah as well if he didn't have to.

"Of course not. But anyway, I just want to thank you so much for saving my life. Can't you just tell me your name? Agent?" Mark said, trailing off.

"Carmichael. Charles Carmichael." When he saw the slightly overexcited look on Mark's face that he suddenly rewound that sentence in his head. Then wondered if it would destroy Mark's awe in him if he slapped his forehead.

**October 19, 2008**

Chuck wasn't particularly thrilled to have Mark meet them at the Buymore but, as Casey pointed out, Mark already knew he worked there so it would be the least compromising location. Chuck did get Casey to drive Mark around in circles for a bit after they placed the bag over Mark's head to try to confuse him, but Chuck suspected it had done more to wear on Casey patience than actually stop Mark from realizing the location of their base. Casey nearly tossed Mark into the seat once they got to the interrogation room and as soon as he ripped off the bag, it was fairly clear who would be playing bad cop today.

"This is not a negotiation." Casey told the frightened engineer. Mark sputtered something about stiffing Casey on their tip as the already irritated Casey began explaining what Mark needed to do to get their help.

"Those two goons from last night, they don't report back to their boss, he's going to want a follow up meet. We're going to cover that drop. He contact you yet?" Mark looked anxiously from Casey back to him before speaking.

"I'm sorry, but I'd prefer to deal only with Agent Carmichael. The man saved my life last night." Casey's eyes narrowed slightly at the comment, and Casey gave something between a grumble and grunt. Then, to Chuck surprise, he stood fully and huffed off out of the room.

Mark looked up towards Chuck eagerly, after he left. Chuck stood there slightly awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to do next. He hadn't really expected Casey to leave him alone. Weighing his options, he took a final swig of his coffee and stepped towards Mark.

"We need your contact's information Mark." He told Mark, his best to sound both comforting and firm.

"I know. I understand that, but I don't really have that information."

"Mark, they threatened your wife. I get that. I want to help you. But I'm sorry, if that's all you can give me, I'm not going to be able to. And believe me, you need my help. The people you're dealing with, they are ruthless. And now that they know your weak point, they aren't just going to let you go. They will hold your wife's life over your head until they've gotten everything they can from you and then they'll kill you and her without a second thought. I can't protect if you don't give us something. Not from them and not from my own people. If you do give them the plans you'll be a traitor. You're a smart guy, and I know you realize what that could mean for you. So, I'm going to ask you again to tell me what you know." Mark stared at him a second, absorbing what he had said. Chuck saw Mark's eyes growing wider at the full implications of Chuck's words clicked in his brain, then watched as Mark reflexively swallowed and somehow seemed to grow even more nervous.

"I really don't know, he texts me, that's it. That's all I know." Chuck nodded, then moved towards where the bag had fallen onto the floor when they stripped it off of Mark. Mark seemed to take that as a bad omen and began to panic. Before he could get too anxious, however, his phone began to ring.

"No, wait, wait a minute. This is him! Right now, he's texting me right now this is him. Okay, he wants to meet tonight. But that's doesn't work for me, I can't make it tonight. Tonight's my reunion and my wife has really been looking forward to this, she really wants to meet all my old friends and my teachers. Plus she has this idea that I need closure. I couldn't disappoint her."

"Tell him you'll meet him there. " Chuck said, closing his eyes so that Mark couldn't see him rolling them. They needed a relatively public place for the drop anyway, and Chuck already knew how things would probably play out at the High School.

"I, I don't know about this." Mark stammered.

"Then come up with somewhere else to meet tonight and explain to your wife why you aren't going to be able to go to your reunion." Chuck told him. Mark's eyes widened even further.

"You know what? Meeting at the reunion is a great idea."


	5. Sarah versus The Alma Mater Part II

_First I have to make a plea to my readers: Is there anyone who would be willing to help me edit my upcoming chapters? The person who has been kind enough to make sure that my grammar and spelling in this and my previous stories weren't too horrendous is having shoulder surgery next week. I'm not entirely sure how much writing I'll be able to get done while they're recovering but I definitely don't want to add anything more to their plate. Please, if you would be willing to act as my editor for a few chapters or you know someone who would please contact me via a personal message or review. _

_Thank you again to anyone who has reviewed, favorited or alerted this story. _

_Other things to note (because I was too lazy to mention it last chapter): A Libby is the former name of the TV Trope the "Alpha Bitch" after the character which embodied this trope on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck._

Sarah versus The Alma Mater Part II

**October 19, 2008**

Sarah had to fight herself to keep from adjusting her dress as she walked into the gym. She hadn't exactly been thrilled when Chuck had told her that they were going to have to go to her reunion. What was the use of having a boyfriend who knew the future if he couldn't fix it so she didn't have to go to awkward and potentially mortifying social events? She was somewhat placated when Chuck reminded her that she might still get to arrest Heather and/ or Dick in front of their entire graduating class. The new dress he had bought hadn't hurt either. Or how well Chuck cleaned up. As far as Sarah was concerned Chuck always looked good. But in honor of, as he put it, being her arm candy tonight, he had dug out an agency tailored suit from the back of his closet, and now looked every bit the modern day James Bond that Mark no doubt thought he was.

"You look great." Chuck whispered in her ear as they approached the registration table. Sarah smiled slightly. Chuck's attempts to bolster her confidence were sweet, but he would think she looked good in a paper bag. She could, however, trust that Ellie was a lot more objective.

Sarah knew that, if she asked him too, Chuck would have had no problem making up something to cover for their absence tonight with his sister but Ellie was her friend and she had decided that this was one time she should be able to tell the truth. At least the part that wouldn't compromise National Security. Ellie had shot her mischievous smile and told her to have fun making everyone jealous at the reunion.

"Welcome cougars class of 98!" The overly enthusiastic woman behind the table greeted them. Sarah couldn't seem to place her but suspected she must have been on the prom committee. And possibly the pep squad.

"Hi. Jennifer Burton?"

"Here." She said, handing her a pre-prepared name tag.

"Thanks." As Sarah tried to find a place to put the sticker that wouldn't, ruin her new dress too much, the woman seemed to frown slightly, as if rolling something over in her mind.

"Wait, you're Jenny Burton?" Sarah gritted her teeth. No, her real name is Sarah Walker, her birth name is Sam and Jenny Burton was one of a half dozen ephemeral people she tried to forget she helped to create but was forced to face tonight.

"I am if it says I am." Sarah said, shooting her a tight smile. Chuck reached over resting his hand on her lower back, sheparding her away from the table. Unfortunately he nearly ran straight into her when she froze momentarily in front of her senior portraits. Chuck moved beside her biting his lip as he studied the photo.

"You know, this is kind of a relief." He finally said. Sarah raised her brows slightly at that. What exactly did that mean? Chuck turned towards her slightly before continuing. "It's just you're, well, you're a knockout. And Ellie's gorgeous, in a completely sisterly way, so absent the interference of my nerdiness…" he said beginning to trail off.

Sarah looked at him questioningly. Chuck quickly cleared his throat.

"You know what, it's not that bad." He said nervously then added with slightly more conviction, "I am relieved that it's not that bad. Why don't we go find the Champagne?" Chuck added quickly before taking her hand and pulling her towards one of dishes covered in drinks.

**XXX**

From the corner of the dance floor, she watched the couple she was having trouble recognizing, trying to puzzle out who they were. When they had finally made their way to a table, Dick Duffy proceeded to live up to his name, and attempt to hit on the woman. She was shocked to hear that the she was Jenny Burton of all people. As Dick continued to talk, she saw the man tense. She wondered if Dick realized how lucky he was that he hadn't been hit yet. Then, Dick teased that ten years would feel even longer to someone living in cell, like Jenny's dad. She had to stop herself from snorting. Jenny's date stiffened slightly, but instead of delivering the hit she had expected, he simply sent Dick an almost sickening smile, and spat out,

"Well, you would know." Then wrapped his hand around Jenny's waist and began walking towards the refreshment table, leaving a confused Dick in their wake. So, that was Jenny Burton. As they walked away the two leaned their heads close to each other, whispering. Looked like there's more to Jenny than meets the eye. Or at least there's more to her date. Too bad she didn't have time to find out what. Scanning the gym she saw her target across the room and cringed slightly as she moved towards her. Really, someone needed to teach to the woman to accessorize.

**XXX**

"So, do you want to call his probation officer when we get home, or should I?" Chuck whispered to Sarah as they walked away from Duffy. She bit back a chuckle, before sobering slightly.

"Are you sure he isn't Mark's contact?" She asked. Chuck gave Sarah a disbelieving look "Right. He really doesn't have the brains for that in any timeline." Chuck followed Sarah's gaze as her eyes drifted up to the DJ stand. Casey was standing up leading the dancers as they swayed back and forth.

"Please tell me you brought a camera." Sarah said, turning to Chuck again. Chuck chuckled and shot her a smirk.

"Sarah, what do you take me for? I made sure one of the Gym's security cameras was turned towards the stage. We're going to have video of the entire night." Sarah grinned along with Chuck, only for the grin to fall quickly as her eyes landed on something across the room.

"Chuck." She said worriedly, nodding towards someone on the other side of the dance floor. He turned and they watched as Heather Chandler began escorting Libby Ratner out of the room.

"I'll keep an eye on Mark. You get Libby?" He doubted he needed to ask. Chuck wasn't going to place himself between Sarah and her high school nemesis. Heather was on the top of Sarah's list of people who needed an ass-kicking, and if Heather was working with Kaminsky, he wasn't going to attempt to stop her.

Sarah pulled him down slightly and pulled him in a short kiss.

"Be safe." She said, before threading her way through the crowd toward the exit Libby and Heather had taken. Chuck stood there a moment, watching her before turning and heading towards Mark.

Chuck moved next to the other nerd. He was just about to tell him that they think they've found the ringleader they were looking for, minus the part that she was currently with his wife, when he looks down the oddly empty path towards the gym's main entrance and flashes on two more of Kaminsky's men. Andrei Booriakin and Sergei Andropov aren't the type of men he wanted to have reaching for weapons in a room full of civilians. In hopes of bringing any kind of confrontation into a less populated area, Chuck grabbed Mark's arm and began pulling him towards the back exit.

When they pushed their way into one of the school corridors Mark froze up, as his eyes widened at the sight of a well dressed man standing in their path. Chuck didn't flash on him, but he's fairly sure that the gun he's pointing directly at Mark was a signal that he wasn't one of the good guys.

"Mr. Ratner." He said in a crisp British accent. "I'm disappointed by some of the rumors I've heard recently. I had thought you understood the exclusive nature of your arrangement with my employer." Another man moved from a side corridor to stand beside the lead goon. Chuck began trying calculate how to deal with them. They were both standing far enough away that he wouldn't be able to simply kick or twist the guns away and he didn't want to risk either getting off a lucky shot.

"I didn't have a choice." Mark stuttered. "They threatened my wife." The man smirked and shook his head.

"Did you think we wouldn't?"

His attempts at intimidation were interrupted when the door they'd just walked through burst open . Chuck turned just enough to see the two henchman he had flashed on earlier approaching them. To Chuck's surprise both of the men in front of him adjusted their aim slightly towards the new arrivals. Chuck decided he could figure out why the bad guys were shooting at each other later, and took advantage of the distraction to dive for the nearest classroom, pulling Mark along with him. The gunfire started as he dragged one of the desks over to barricade the door. Looking around he noticed that there was a side door, leading off, presumably, to another class room. As he had begun to pull Mark towards the door Chuck turned toward Mark.

"Tell me about the arrangement."

**XXX**

Sarah slipped her heels off and began walking through the locker room as quietly as possible. Listening carefully, she began making her way down the rows of lockers, her gun held at the ready. Or it was until she walked passed one of the rows and suddenly found it kicked out of her hands. Sarah shifted quickly into a fighting stance, as Heather, standing on one of benches, kicked up again. Sarah deflected it, and gave Heather a punch, which the smaller girl blocked.

They were both so focused on each other that they didn't hear the footsteps echoing on the floor until they were only a few feet away. Freezing, Sarah turned to find three suited men with guns blocking the way out. The leader of the three smirks.

"I hate to break up a girl fight, but my employer is eager to meet Mrs. Ratner." He said, before he turned towards one of his goon. "Grab the wife. Kill the other two." Sarah looked over to Heather. She wouldn't trust the other woman as far as she could throw her but she did trust that she has a fair share of self-preservation. She gave Heather a slight nod. Her former nemesis frowned slightly, but returned it. Just as the two lesser goons moved forward, Heather jumped from her perch and they both moved towards the men. Sarah unarmed and knocked out the one closer to her with an elbow to the face then kick, before moving forward again. She landed a kick to the leader's head at almost the same time as Heather landed one to his gut. With all three down, Sarah reached back and grabbed one of the now abandoned guns, and pointed it at Heather.

"Freeze, Federal Officer." She warned. Only to find herself staring down Heather's gun and having the words echoed back to her.

That was definitely not what she expected. From the shock on Heather's face, she hadn't either. They both stood there a moment, staring at each other, until the sound of metal banging against metal, startled them out of their unintentional stand-off. Turning towards the sound, Sarah's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Libby shakily holding one of the other guns.

"I don't care who you are, as long as one of you tells me what the hell is going on."

**XXX**

"A cool guy like you. You wouldn't understand. I'm just a guy, who likes math. I know why a girl like Libby would marry me. " Mark began quickly. "My last girlfriend before her certainly made that clear." He added sardonically. They were out of linked classrooms now, so Chuck made his way towards the door to the hall, hoping that they were far enough away now from the two sets of goons that he could slip Mark out to the van. The gunfire must have been heard even over the music, because it seemed like everyone had squeezed from the gym into the corridor in a panic. There was no way he was going to be able to get Mark safely out that way.

"Then, I didn't get the promotion I expected and Libby started to talk about starting a family. I panicked. Do you know how expensive a private school education is?"

"So you became a traitor?" Chuck asked, still slightly incredulous.

"No. No. It wasn't like that." Mark quickly sputtered. "This man approached me. He said he worked for one of our English competitors." He added, quietly. Chuck headed towards the back of the class room to check the window. "It was just small things. Schematics for small parts, code."

"Until the bomber plans?" Chuck supplied as he began trying to jimmy open the decades shut window.

"No. That was someone else." Mark shook his head. Right. That would explain the shoot out in the hallway. "They must have learned somehow that I'd been willing to sell information. They tried to buy the plans from me." He explained before adding quickly. "But I said no." Then continued quietly. "But when they threatened my wife. I wasn't thinking straight. And I couldn't have gone you guys because, well." Mark trailed off. There was a creaking squeal and suddenly the window slowly began working its way upwards.

"We might find out about the other information you had stolen." Chuck concluded. Mark nodded. At this point Chuck wasn't entirely sure what help he could give Mark in the long run. If he had information that was useful, they might still be able to work something out. Chuck let out a sigh. He'd just have to focus now on getting Mark back to L.A. "Go out the window." Chuck said gesturing with a nod. "We'll get you someplace safe, then we can worry about everything else."

"No." Mark said, quickly. "Not without Libby."

"Mark," Chuck began, gently.

"This is my fault, I'm not going to leave until she's safe." Mark straightened as if preparing to hold his spot on the floor for as long as possible.

"My partner has her Mark. She's safe." Chuck told him earnestly. Mark's stance faltered some. "Trust me." Mark seemed to think for a moment before speaking.

"Okay. I'll go to the van. But I'm not leaving the campus without Libby." Chuck looked over the smaller man. He was clearly scared, but he also looked determined.

"Alright then."

**XXX**

Some of Bartowski's bad luck must have rubbed off on him, because he had been just switching songs when the gunfire started. Everyone in the room acted predictably like most civilians at the sound and all hell broke loose. They started squeezing out of the door, panically pressing into the small surrounding corridors, pushing outwards towards the exit. It's a messy mob, and Casey can only hope that the only bodies they'll find when this is all over are bad guys. And possibly that guy that requested Mmm…Bop.

The local authorities have most likely already received calls from half the crowd, so Casey pushes through the mass of people, looking for his partners. He hopes the mission hasn't gone completely bottoms up but given that this is Bartowski and Walker he kept his expectations low. When he heard an especially shrill shriek he followed the sound, pushing through the crush until he found a small bubble of space around two different, slightly trampled recently dead bodies. He may not have the Intersect, but Casey has been in the game long enough to recognize the type. Two baddies down, unknown number lost in the crowd.

When he finally pushed his way out, it's clear that if any of their marks survived, they have probably already slipped away, so Casey decided to simply meet up with the others and plan their next move. Bartowski and Walker are already at the van along with a blonde Casey doesn't recognize and the not-so-happy couple. The Ratners are in the middle of an argument. Or, more accurately, Mrs. Ratner is in the middle of screaming at Mr. Ratner. Something about not trusting her and being an idiot. Walker was sitting next to the blonde looking incredibly uncomfortable. He could hear the two sniping at each other as he approached.

"You know if someone had told me back in High School that you would be an Agent, I would have said dream little jailbird's daughter, dream." The unknown woman said with a smirk.

"I didn't exactly peg you as the type either to risk your life for the greater good." Walker answered back. The girl snorted.

"Please. I get to fly all over the world, wearing the best clothes, staying at the best hotels and going to best parties all on the arm of men whose job it is to keep their body at peak performance and all on Uncle Sam's dime." Casey grimaced and fought back a growl.

Turning away from the two bickering pairs, Casey made his way off to the side where Bartowski was standing.

"What happened?"

"Apparently Mark was selling secrets to another group before he stole bomber plans and they decided to crash the meet." Bartowski told him with a grim look before adding. "And Sarah's High School nemesis is an Agent." Taking both fact in, Casey turned and looked over the scene before him. He could hear sirens approaching in the background.

"I'll stay and help with the clean up. You two take the lovely couple to the drop off point and try to explain this mess to Beckman. Because I sure as hell am not."

**XXX**

"Casey just called. The three men you took out in the locker room were still unconscious when he got there, but the rest had either slipped out or been killed." Chuck said with a sigh as he placed the bottles of water he was holding on his bedside. He looked over to wear Sarah was sitting on their bed. Despite her attempts to look relaxed, Chuck could still see the tension her body held from earlier in the night.

"I'm sorry about Heather." He said and watched her cover up a tiny flinch as his words hit a bit too close to what was obviously going through her mind before she shot him a strained smile.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. It's a good thing, right? To have one less bad guy out there." She told him. He sat down on the bed and slide over towards her giving her shoulder a squeeze. She was right, but he still felt like he should apologize. He had looked up Heather's file once they had gotten home. The first time she had caught the attention of any of the government's Agencies, Bureaus or Services had been shortly after he had left the farm. He suspected that either his investigation or something his father had done might have caused her to show up on their radar. Chuck didn't need to have Sarah explicitly tell him what role Heather had played in her High School experience to realize it must of have been horrible. Locking Heather up must have felt like a victory in the other timeline. A bit of justice that Sarah had finally come out on top.

"You're a better Agent." He told her, unsure what else to say, before adding. "And a better person." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"I'm disappointed that someone isn't selling government secrets because it means I didn't get to kick their butt. I'm not entirely sure that places me as a better person." Chuck smiled at her bluntness.

"I'm pretty sure every single person who was teased in School would disagree." He told her. She loosened slightly, but not entirely. "Why don't you let me give you a massage?" Chuck asked. Sarah frowned slightly. "You look like you're ready to pounce on someone." He explained. Sarah scowled slightly at him. He gave her a slightly puppy dog look before she rolled her eyes again, and pulled off her tank top, leaving her was bare from the waist up, as she turned and lay face down on their bed.

Chuck scooted up the bed so he could begin to work out some of the knotted muscles in her neck and shoulders.

"Do you even know how to give a massage?" She asked. Chuck let out a chuckle.

"I'll have you know I am a licensed Masseuse." Sarah craned her head back, trying to give him the best disbelieving look she could from her awkward position. "Or permitted or certified or something. In San Francisco." He confessed, then countered. "But it still counts." She lay back again fully as his hands began moving down her back.

"Bryce sighed us up for the classes while we were at Stanford." He explained after a minute. "He said it because it would be a good skill for a spy to have, but I think he just hoped it would be a good place to meet girls that were good with their hands." Sarah snorted.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." She said, with a touch of fondness. After another few minutes, Chuck sat up slightly and reached for the page he had printed off earlier in the evening.

"I have something that might cheer you up even more." Chuck told her, handing her the page before returning to his massage.

"It's Heather's scores from her training." He explained, somewhat unnecessarily. Sarah read over the sheet as he began working his way down her body. After a moment, Sarah shifted suddenly, flipping over to face him.

"Thank you." She told him, then reached up and pulling him into a kiss. The kiss deepened and Sarah's hands began trailing down his back, playing with the edge of t-shirt and, eventually, teasing their way underneath it before they were both forced to come up for air. Her hand stayed on his skin as they pulled back slightly.

"I haven't finished your massage." He pointed out. Sarah shot him a coy smile, then shifted suddenly again, this time unexpectedly turning them over so that Sarah was now straddling him.

"I think I know a better way to relax."


End file.
